Annette's hand slipped free of Ronnie's in an instant.
She lifted her head, looking up at the man beside her, demanding an answer.
"Ronnie, you've been married?"
Ronnie shook his head, over and over.
"How could I be? You'd believe anything she says."
"I forgot to tell you—this is my sister. She came by the gym to find me. She loves these dumb little jokes."
Annette seemed to breathe again, and slid her arm back through Ronnie's.
In the end, Ronnie made up some excuse and brought me home.
The moment we were through the door, he blocked my way.
"Annie doesn't know anything. Don't hurt her."
I gave a bitter laugh, and the tears fell anyway, no matter how I fought them.
"You wouldn't have a child with me because of her?"
Ronnie didn't answer, as if there were something he couldn't bring himself to say.
But what about everything I'd swallowed? Did that count for nothing?
I kept going.
"You don't want me to hurt her? Then I'll make sure she knows—she's the one who wormed her way into someone else's marriage, the other woman who'll never be anything more than that."
Slap.
A sharp crack landed on my face.
The sting in my cheek came with Ronnie's roar, and the rest of my words went back down my throat.
"Rosalind, that's enough!"
"I'll explain all of this to you later, but please, can you not hurt Annie? She doesn't know anything. She's a victim too. I'm the one who wronged her, keeping the truth from her from the start."
"Once she's had the baby, I'll tell her everything."
And me? Didn't I need an explanation too?
That whole year of being lied to—what did that make me?
Slowly I sank down and leaned against the wall.
The next day, Ronnie acted like nothing had happened.
He passed along a message Annette had sent him.
"Company camping retreat. Annie wants you to come."
"Don't blow it. I'm begging you."
I looked at the flight departure time pushed to my phone.
Not much longer to endure.
After tomorrow, you're you and I'm me. We won't have to be tangled up in each other anymore.
At the campsite.
The rest of the company staff quietly treated me as Ronnie's sister.
Because of the night before, Annette was a little embarrassed.
She sat down beside me holding a gift she'd prepared for me in advance.
"I'm sorry, Rosalind. I really didn't know you were Ronnie's sister."
"He never told me before."
Not far off, everyone was watching the two of us like it was a show.
All of them seeming to wait, wondering when the real wife would finally blow up, when I'd expose the whole thing on the spot.
Ronnie sat on my other side, nudging me over and over with the tip of his shoe.
I shifted a little to the side.
"You don't know it, but Ronnie's keeping a lot from you. Want me to tell you, one thing at a time?"
The mood froze to zero.
All you could hear was the muffled breathing around us.
Annette didn't catch my meaning. She smiled and said,
"Go on, then. What else has he done that I don't know about? He's always laughing at me. Let me laugh at him for once."
I looked down and turned the soda-tab diamond ring on my ring finger.
"Back in school, he chased a girl for three years. In the end she still wouldn't say yes, so he kept showing up at her place, day after day, shameless about it, until she finally gave in."
Annette's face soured a little, but she kept listening.
"Later he got his wish and married that girl. And in the second year of their marriage, he cheated."
Annette couldn't hold it anymore. The smile at the corner of her mouth slowly faded.
"Where is that girl now?"
I smiled faintly.
"Isn't she right beside you?"
The next second, Annette rose slowly to her feet, her eyes fixed on Ronnie, wounded and furious.
She said nothing, just clutched her belly and ran.
Ronnie looked at me, a resentment in his eyes I couldn't put into words.
"Why did you have to say it at this exact moment? Annie's already sensitive. If something happens to her, I'll never forgive you."
